National Mills Weekend 8th and 9th May 2010

[Gareth Hughes]

As we seem to be plugging London Garden Squares and Museums by Evening at the moment, here's next week's heritage offering, frequently accompanied by a nice pot of tea and a piece of cake or three:

http://www.nationalmillsweekend.co.uk/nmw.htm

 

[Schoolmarm]

Thanks for that link Gareth. There is one right near here in Helmshore that I didn't know about.

 

[essexbearhunter]

Great link...and so many of them near here as well (didn't even know Rayleigh still had a mill)
Thanks
EBH

 

[Penners]

Oh no! Another opportunity to miss seeing Pakenham Mill at work.

Hmmm - I wonder if I can find a way to wriggle out of my previous commitment....

Actually, Gareth, of all the mills that you know (roughly) between Norwich and Bury St Edmunds, which would you say is the most interesting?

 

[JoceAndChris]

I can't wait to see that Maud Foster one in Boston.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Oh no! Another opportunity to miss seeing Pakenham Mill at work.

Hmmm - I wonder if I can find a way to wriggle out of my previous commitment....

Actually, Gareth, of all the mills that you know (roughly) between Norwich and Bury St Edmunds, which would you say is the most interesting?

Stanton, Thelnetham, both the mills at Pakenham, Bardwell, all within five miles of each other. Starston windpump (small, odd-looking, 1850s), Stowmarket museum has both a working watermill and a Victorian drainage windmill, and lots of things that smell of hot oil, go chuff chuff chuff, and will not interest Mrs P who might like all the "how we used to live" type exhibits

The Newmarket - Ely area is fertile hunting ground for mill-spotters too.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Great link...and so many of them near here as well (didn't even know Rayleigh still had a mill)
Thanks
EBH

Mountnessing is probably the best near you (and has a very good pub just across the road), or Upminster. Rayleigh is a good re-use as a museum but is only an empty shell from the die-hard mill enthusiast's point of view.

 

[Penners]

Stanton, Thelnetham, both the mills at Pakenham, Bardwell, all within five miles of each other. Starston windpump (small, odd-looking, 1850s), Stowmarket museum has both a working watermill and a Victorian drainage windmill, and lots of things that smell of hot oil, go chuff chuff chuff, and will not interest Mrs P who might like all the "how we used to live" type exhibits

Wow - Starston? That's only a few minutes away - I didn't even know about that one.

"Chuff, chuff, chuff..." Beethoven never managed anything as melodic as that.

Many thanks, Gareth.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Stanton, Thelnetham, both the mills at Pakenham, Bardwell, all within five miles of each other. Starston windpump (small, odd-looking, 1850s), Stowmarket museum has both a working watermill and a Victorian drainage windmill, and lots of things that smell of hot oil, go chuff chuff chuff, and will not interest Mrs P who might like all the "how we used to live" type exhibits

Wow - Starston? That's only a few minutes away - I didn't even know about that one.

"Chuff, chuff, chuff..." Beethoven never managed anything as melodic as that.

Many thanks, Gareth.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1592950

 

[essexbearhunter]

With the conventional mills at Cranbrook and Mountnessing already under my belt, we went down to Faversham in Kent to a water-driven Gunpowder Mill.
What remains of Chart Mill is tiny - the wooden building is the size of a small garage plus the foundations of a mirror-image mill on the other side of the waterwheel and a further wheel+2 mills beyond that. Inside it is crammed with photo displays and the machinery.
View attachment 2View attachment 1

We used the rest of the afternoon to visit nearby Belmont - where the original house (later extended and clad in stone-coloured mathematical tiles by Samual Wyatt) was built by Edward Wilks who was Storekeeper at the Royal Powder Mills.
This was a great find. Apart from its huge and varied collection of clocks which enliven the interior, they had a Regency Group (think Sealed Knot but re-living the Regency period rather than famous battles) peopling several rooms. This worked really well with the guided tour and Belmont is down for a second visit. (Each guide has their own style and eight times more information than they could ever use, so no two tours are the same).

Incidentally, to achieve the very fine glazing bars on such large windows, the bars are iron overlaid with wood.